Don Corneo's secret weapon, a monster in the form of a house. No one knows how it was built.
Enemy Intel
Hell House is a boss in Final Fantasy VII Remake, fought as a special battle in Corneo Colosseum in Chapter 9, "The Town That Never Sleeps", during the quest "Underground Colosseum". The boss has various stages and changes its elemental affinities. It is best to prepare by bringing all four elemental 
Magic Materia, divided between Cloud and Aerith. Kotch will comment on the pair's performance throughout the battle and will also comment if both are Knocked Out and the player receives a Game Over.
The origins of the Hell House are a mystery, but it is part of Don Corneo's Colosseum. Cloud and Aerith entered the Corneo Cup at the behest of Madam M to win the prize money, but the couple's surprise string of victories led to a tremendous increase in bets from the crowd, so Don Corneo arbitrarily decided to extend the tournament and force the pair to fight the Hell House. Later Johnny recounted the fight to the Wall Market Pharmacist, who expressed disbelief that someone 'fought a house'.
Stats[]
Attacks[]
The attacks used depend on the boss's HP.
- Phase 1: 100–75%
- Phase 2: 75–25%
- Phase 3: <25%
= Physical damage- = Magical damage
| Attack | Pic | Phase | Description | Block | KBKnockback |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 House Call
|
|
All | Changes position on the arena by jumping. | ||
| Chair Salvo
|
|
All | Fires homing chairs at a target. Turns into Chair Salvo Deluxe in God House Mode. | ||
 Chair Salvo Deluxe
|
|
2–3 | Clad itself in  Ice and ejects homing chairs at a target.
|
||
| Firecrackers
|
All | Plush toy explosives scattered across the floor that explode after 30 seconds or when approached. | |||
| Ram
|
1 | Charges at a target. | |||
| Barrier Shift | 
|
1 | Changes elemental affinity to either  Fire, Ice,  Lightning or  Wind; always picks a new random element rather than renewing previous one.
|
- | - |
| Jetstream
|
|
2–3 | Sprays Fire all around itself while spinning.
|
||
| Rocket Charge
|
2–3 | Shoots out flames behind itself and rams into a target. Turns into Double Rocket Charge in God House Mode. | |||
| Double Rocket Charge
|
2–3 | Engulfs itself in fire and rams into a target. Can repeat at another target. | |||
| Housing Rush
|
2–3 | Charges while flailing arms. Stops and attack with the arms if contact is made. Turns into Housing Shock in God House Mode. | |||
| Housing Shock
|
|
2–3 | Clad itself in Lightning and charges at a target arms flailing. Stops and attacks with the arms if contact is made.
|
||
| Hospitality
|
1–2 | Sucks in a player character through the front door to bind them for 5 seconds before spitting them out. Sustaining damage equal to 1% of its HP, or being hit with an ability or limit break, makes the house spit the victim out sooner. Turns into Renewed Hospitality in God House Mode. | |||
| Renewed Hospitality
|
|
2–3 | Clad itself in Wind and sucks in a player character through the front door to bind them for 5 seconds. Sustaining damage equal to 1% of its HP, or being hit with an ability or limit break, makes the house spit the victim out sooner.
|
||
| God House Mode | 
|
2–3 | Minimizes damage from all incoming attacks, leaving only arms vulnerable. | - | - |
| Heavensward
|
|
3 | Flies around the arena, counting down from 3 while throwing out homing chairs and exploding plush toys. When the countdown finishes uses Hellbound and crashes down onto a target. If hit with its current elemental weakness when it briefly stops in preparation to crashing down, the house falls down before using Hellbound. |
Battle[]
The manifestation of pure evil versus the most badass couple this side of Midgar—have you ever seen a fight more incredible, more epic!?
Kotch
The battle is fought with Cloud and Aerith. The player can use the bench in the dressing rooms restore the party's HP and MP, and also use the vending machine to restock on items, such as phoenix down. Once ready, speaking to the gatekeeper will start the encounter.
The Hell House is a bizarre and notorious boss equipped with various types of abilities, from a barrage of ranged attacks to powerful melee attacks. It switches its elemental properties and protects itself from damage. The vast majority of its abilities deal heavy damage and are physical-based, but when imbued with different elements it'll use more powerful version of its other attacks. Most of its more powerful attacks cannot be blocked.
The Hell House imbued with fire.
The Hell House starts the battle in its "concealed" state, being less aggressive with its attacks. It changes its elemental affinity between the four elements with Barrier Shift, becoming resistant to the respective element and empowering some of its moves (although it'll only use the empowered abilities on the last two phases) while becoming weak to the opposite element. The color of its windows indicates which element it is imbued with:
- Fire (red windows): becomes weak to ice.
- Ice (blue windows): becomes weak to fire.
- Lightning (purple windows): becomes weak to wind.
- Wind (green windows): becomes weak to thunder.
The Hell House's main attacks in this phase are Chair Salvo, which launches a round of flaming chairs that track the characters; and Fire Crackers, where it shoots exploding toys. It also attacks with the House Call, where it leaps from one place to another, dealing heavy damage to nearby characters when it lands. Lastly, the Hell House can bind a character near its front door with Hospitality, sucking them through its door and trapping them inside, then spitting them out, dealing damage. In the first phase, the house can be pressured for 2 seconds after it sustains physical damage equal to 1% of its max HP.
The Hell House awakens.
Once the Hell House's HP drops to 75%, it sprouts mechanical limbs and a head, becoming more aggressive with more powerful melee attacks. As soon this phase starts, the house charges at the controlled character with Housing Rush, which can knock characters down. It stops using Barrier Shift. When attacked from behind, the Hell House will often use the fire-elemental Jetstream where it spins in place while shooting out flames from its thrusters, dealing heavy damage and knocking down the attacker. It now uses Hospitality and House Call more frequently and occasionally jumps outside of the arena onto an unreachable platform near the crowd to perform Chair Salvo from there, jumping back to the arena when it is finished. In this phase, it is pressured for 4 seconds after it sustains physical damage equal to 2% of its max HP.
Once the Hell House's HP drops to 50%, it starts using God House Mode, creating a barrier that drastically decreases all damage taken, and bounces Cloud's physical attacks back. The shield will break on its own, leaving the Hell House vulnerable to attacks until it recasts God House Mode. During this brief window, it can be pressured. The Hell House uses Jetstream more often, and employs Rocket Charge, where it charges up for a few seconds and propels itself at full speed towards the player using its thrusters, stopping only if it hits the character or collides against a wall. This attack cannot be blocked and deals massive damage, launching its victim away. Once the Hell House uses God House Mode, its arms become targetable and each equals to 1% of the Hell House's max HP. The arms take double damage from physical attacks, but take only minimal damage from magical attacks (0.1x damage). Should the arms be destroyed, the Hell House will become pressured for 3 seconds.
In this third phase, the Hell House uses Barrier Shift again, usually after God House Mode ends, and also employs empowered versions of certain attacks depending on which elemental affinity it currently has:
- Fire (red windows): Rocket Charge becomes Double Rocket Charge, charging and dashing faster.
- Ice (blue windows): Chair Salvo becomes Chair Salvo Deluxe, which inflicts Slow.
- Lightning (purple windows): Housing Rush becomes Housing Shock, surrounding itself by lightning while attacking. Cannot be blocked.
- Wind (green windows): Hospitality becomes Renewed Hospitality, which "sucks" characters faster.
Hell House using Heavensward.
Once the Hell House's HP drops to 25%, it uses Heavensward, where it flies around the arena, throwing Chair Salvos and Fire Crackers. A countdown from 3 starts, and once it ends, the Hell House unleashes Hellbound, diving at the player and dealing massive damage as it crashes to the ground. This attack cannot be blocked. After the Hell House lands, it uses all its abilities, including God House Mode and the empowered attacks from Barrier Shift. After a while, it'll take flight again to use Heavensward followed by Hellbound. It can be pressured by using the elemental spell it is currently weak to while the house is airborne.
Strategy[]
As Hell House changes its elemental affinities, a good strategy is to equip all four elemental magic materia between Cloud and Aerith and using Poison Materia as a non-elemental spell. 
Summoning Materia can be used for this battle from second phase onwards, but the player should not use the wrong summon at the wrong time (i.e. summoning Shiva Materia when Hell House has ice affinity). Fat Chocobo Materia is a non-elemental summon and it can be relied on safely without having to worry about elemental affinities.
The Revival Materia and Healing Materia (linked with the 
Magnify Materia) should also be equipped on one character; Aerith is a good choice, as she is more often safe from damage and from the House's Hospitality attack by staying at a distance, though Cloud has more HP. Since this fight is long, 
ATB Boost Materia can play a pivotal role when needing a quick ATB for healing or to capitalize during staggers.
Barrier Shift.
The goal for phase 1 is to build a quick stagger to drop the House's HP to 75%, minimizing any damage on the party. It is recommended to build ATB with both characters and maintain at least one bar full. The party should focus on using magic to exploit the House's elemental weaknesses and quickly build up its stagger gauge. The Hell House will almost always start the battle imbued with fire, hence bombarding it with ice magic is the best way to stagger it quickly before it uses Barrier Shift. When the house becomes pressured, Cloud's Focused Thrust should build stagger fast. When phase 2 starts, the player can either dodge Housing Rush, or use Cloud to counter it with Punisher Mode. When it uses Jetstream, it is best to stand back as far as possible, as it covers a large area around it.
God House Mode.
During phase 3, when the Hell House starts using God House Mode, the window of opportunity to deal proper damage to it becomes very small, as it'll often recast God House Mode soon after the barrier breaks. Magic still works, and the player can use the non-elemental 
Bio and Biora spells. The arms can be damaged even in God House Mode, so the player can focus on attacking them with Cloud when he is not using magic. When phase 4 starts, it is recommended to switch to Cloud when the Hell House uses Heavensward followed by Hellbound; since Cloud has more HP and physical defense than Aerith, he should be able to take more punishment. Hellbound can be dodged (and it should, as it can't be blocked), so it is recommended to run around the arena as it fires the chairs and dodge when it descends. If the player has the ATB and quick reflexes, they can try to hit the airborne house with its elemental weakness when it stops and its windows light up to cancel Hellbound.
If Cloud's limit break is up, it is best saved for when the boss is staggered, or when God House Mode is not imminent. The player should not not use it near its phase shifts, as it'll simply cancel the Limit and/or it'll do no damage past the breakpoint; the player needs to pay attention to the Hell House's HP before using a limit break. Saving it (as well as summons) for the final phase is recommended.
Renewed Hospitality.
If the Hell House traps a character, the player should switch to the other party member and attack, causing it to "spit" the trapped character out earlier. It is possible to heal the character inside the Hell House, which can be done to avoid heavy damage when they're released. If the player manages to avoid Hospitality, it is recommend to move behind the Hell House with Cloud and attack consecutively.
The Hell House is susceptible to 
Poison and 
Sleep, since—despite its appearance—it is not a mechanical-type enemy, but an artificial life-type enemy. Poison is effective through most of the fight, but particularly useful during the third phase when the boss starts using God House Mode, since it deals fixed damage and it is not affected by the user's magic stat. Sleep is useful to interrupt certain attacks, such as Housing Rush and Rocket Charge.
Hard Mode[]
The Hell House is even more aggressive in hard mode, and uses some new attacks. It occasionally opens its door and summons three tonberries, which can happen usually once per phase. A sweeper and a cutter may be appear from the colosseum gates during the fourth phase if the player takes too long to finish off the Hell House.
Equipping Prayer Materia is effective for emergency healing, and ATB Boost can allow it to be used earlier. Magnify can be paired with healing materia, and by using Spectral Cogwheel on Aerith with her limit break set as Healing Wind, she can cast it more often. Time Materia is extremely useful for its Haste spell for the party, as well as Slow and Stop on the Hell House. It is good to cast both Haste and Regen on both Cloud and Aerith as soon the battle starts; setting magnify with either time or healing is ideal. Revival Materia may be useful, even on both party members, or Revival Earrings, more of which can be bought from the vending machine in the dressing room.
Among useful 
Complete Materia are stat-boosting materia, Refocus Materia, Steadfast Block Materia, ATB Assist Materia, and Skill Master Materia. As with a normal mode battle, all types of offensive materia should be equipped between Cloud and Aerith. Pairing MP Absorption Materia with Lightning Materia on Aerith is ideal to allow a spell that is guaranteed to hit to also restore her MP (in Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade, wind spells also always hit). Cloud can pair the Elemental Materia with lightning; while this looks counterintuitive as it'll lower his damage if the Hell House Phase Shifts into lightning mode, it can help should the Sweeper and Cutter appear at the fourth phase, allowing Cloud to dispatch them faster. Bahamut Materia is the best summoning materia to equip, as its non-elemental damage won't conflict with the Hell House Phase Shift, and its homing attacks can hit it even during Heavensward.
The tonberries should be dealt with as soon they tumble out, with Cloud using Triple Slash and Punisher Mode attacks to quickly dispatch them, since most of the time they drop from the Hell House under the pressured state. Aerith can also run amid them and use Sorcerous Storm, or Ray of Judgment if she has the ATB to spare and the tonberries are nicely lined up to hit more than one of them with the beam. Tonberries' knife attack instantly kills unless it is against a Cloud in his counterattack stance in Punisher Mode, or if the target has a maxed out Warding Materia paired with a Subversion Materia.
Aerith should cast Arcane Ward in the middle of the arena and only cast offensive spells while over it to maximize damage dealt and conserve MP. These spells should be medium-level in the first few phases, or low-level in the later phases, to both be MP-efficient and to hit their target before it moves. The Synergy Materia paired with Wind Materia or Fire Materia on her can play a pivotal role as well, since it can assure she is always casting offensive magic whenever Cloud spends his ATB. Cloud can capitalize on many of the Hell House's attacks by using a combination of Punisher Mode's counter and Counterstance, such as Housing Rush; however, care should be taken against the Hell House's unblockable attacks, as they also cannot be countered.
The fight is more challenging than before when Hell House uses God House Form. Crippling its arms and casting spells at any windows of opportunity is recommended. Slow and Stop spells help a lot. In the final phase, spells can be used to kill it as quickly as possible before it summons a cutter and a sweeper. Summons are best saved for the final phase. The player should as much as possible try to cancel out Hellbound by hitting Hell House with the spell it is weak to (tier 1 spell because they are the fastest to cast) before it uses Hellbound, ideally inside Arcane Ward. If the house is near death when it summons cutter and sweeper, the player can try to ignore them and just go for the kill.
Musical theme[]
The eponymous "Hell House" plays throughout the battle with Hell House and features various phases, which play based on the different stages of the battle. It also incorporates the opening riff of the boss theme "Fight On!".
"Hell House" is is track 18 of the fourth disc of the Final Fantasy VII Remake Original Soundtrack.
Other appearances[]
Final Fantasy VII Ever Crisis[]
A modified version of the Hell House was used as a mark in two 2023 events: Hell House Hunt and Clash of Vengeance. The overall strategy to defeat it was nearly identical to the original battle, though it was greatly simplified so as to alternate weakness between fire and ice.
A seasonal version known as the Sweet House appeared during the Valentine's 2024 event The Secret Sweetheart. This candied variant had an innate vulnerability to Wind, and attacked by throwing explosive chocolate in place of elemental attack streams.
Behind the scenes[]
Hell House was a normal enemy in the original Final Fantasy VII, fought in the Sector 6 collapsed expressway. It was upgraded to a boss because its design was unique and stood out among other enemies. The developers felt that its bizarre nature meant it would be strange if it appeared in the world with no run-up, and thus was included in the colosseum as a spectacle.[1]
Gallery[]
Etymology[]
"Hell house" is a term for a man-made haunted house that is used for entertainment purposes.
Citations[]
References[]
- ↑ Square Enix (2020, August 12). "Special Interview: Digging Deep into the World of FFVII REMAKE! Part 2". From Final Fantasy Portal Site. Archived from the original on August 14, 2020.